(Written while listening to: "Dreams of the Deep" by Aviators on YouTube)
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'~Hide, hide, hide, hide… I. Have. To. Hide.~' Laito was trying to be quiet even in his own mind.
Ever since he emerged from the flooded tunnel into the cold river he tried to desperately cover the light that was coming out from his body and stay as still as possible to not provoke any attention, all while keeping his hand tight on the handle of S-WORD.
Shadows cannot exist in the absence of light.
That was the part of the logic that governed the dynamics between these source elements that gave them part of their meaning and substance, within the Shadow Slave universe. Of course laws of reality could be suppressed when greater Wills were involved. But that was not the case in Laito's situation.
Indeed, when there was no light in the cold depths of Forsaken Lands, the shades trapped there were still and slumbering relatively peacefully.
To disturb them is to invite their anger.
Thankfully he already confirmed that said light pointed towards the same direction in which the river flowed.
The silence present was mostly undisturbed. Only soft burble of river, and dripping of droplets from distant cavern roof. Sometimes there was also a loud splash as some fish(At least Laito hoped so.) breaching the river's surface with a jump.
Suddenly, the casket slightly wobbled.
'HOLY SHIT! Okay, that's not fine. This situation is a literal nightmare!...- Well duh.' Laito tried to contain his internal panic, while balancing himself to calm down the casket's temporary instability.
In a mundane world his situation would be quite scary. Now that he was in the universe littered with eldritch horrors it was quite stressful to say the least.
And rightfully so, as he was indeed unknowingly surrounded by monsters.
And they were closing in. This time not exactly onto the casket with shiny boi inside.
And Bona was suddenly dragged underwater by something. It was so dark so Laito couldn't exactly see what happened, but he had to make a split second decision as Bona was still tied with a shoelace to the casket.
With the realization that the hiding game is over he emerged from hiding and with a swift slash severed the connection between his vehicle and Echo.
As Laito asked himself mentally weather to unsummon his skeletal Echo as to not lose her, the Spell whispered:
[You have slain an Dormant Monster, Drowner Shadow]
'... How? I guess she is doing okay down there? Skeletons don't need to breathe after all. If it's just dormant creatures she should be fine… But then again shadows are incorporeal beings… So how can she even attack them… That "Reaper" attribute maybe?'
For a moment there was quiet and then Spell started to speak again:
[You have slain a Dormant Monster…]
[You have slain…] x3
After a few more announcements the surface of the water became tumultuous as Bona emerged from below. She was covered with shapeless shadows that tried to tie around her and drag underwater. It would be lethal… if she was a living breathing person. A skeleton was perfectly fine in that situation, as she hacked her sickle left and right aiming at the shadows as if they were some annoying seaweed.
The loud mess that it caused has captured Laito's attention for one second too long. Just as he was about to secure his own surroundings he was also assaulted.
But not from below.
From above.
With a muffled
It could grab him so it was most likely corporeal, it flew above the river and as they ascended there was the sound of flapping, so it most likely had wings..
It had to silently dive and capture its prey in one fell swoop, similar to how owls do their hunting, so even Laito with his enhanced sight knew none the better before it was too late..
The very moment he was captured, the reincarnator boy began chanting. Both his arms were covered with beast's claws and even with the help of the Boner he wasn't strong enough to struggle himself free.
Thankfully, the creature didn't use its head, or whatever it had to kill Laito that instant. It gave Laito enough time to complete his spellcasting, which he managed to memorize up to this point from repeated casting.
Yet Laito didn't release that spell at that moment. It was ready, but he pulled it back from instantly activating, as he noticed thanks to the bright light of his body, that whatever has grabbed him has flown downstream the river. Precisely where Laito was desperate to go as fast as he could.
Obviously the creature had no kind intentions, but now with his prepared spell hanging on the tip of his tongue, Laito was quite confident in protecting himself the moment the need would arise.
He dismissed Bona and Cold Grave Casket that were left behind, so that they wouldn't be destroyed unnecessarily.
And so they flew. The speed of the journey vastly increased, which was worth risking it with considering that the blue light that now was let out from the entirety of Laito's body was getting so bright that it was slowly turning white.
The itch was also getting annoying.
Laito tried to distract himself by assessing the surroundings once more, this time more efficiently with better lighting.
It was still not enough to pierce through the entirety of the darkness, but now at least he could see that the cavern he was in was steadily sloping downwards, which caused the current of the underground river to speed up.
As they flew it kept speeding up. So much that the initially soft gurgle of the flowing water was replaced with thunderous roar from the river that at this point was almost diagonal.
Then it became diagonal turning into an actual underground waterfall heading into the unknown abyss.
And Laito was coincidentally not in said river. Falling down onto his death. Being captured in hands of a deadly monster was potentially better, although this also depends on their destination.
The unknown creature decided that said destination was up. Which was bad, because Laito's light was pointing down.
As the monster increased its altitude it turned a bit , which finally made its body reachable by Laito's eyesight.
It was a bat.
A huge horrific pitch-black bat, covered with spikes, its head ugly and dismorphed into Nosferatu's worst nightmare.
And higher behind the bat's image there was…
… an entire swarm of them waiting hanging upside-down on the cavern's ceiling.
—
—
—
'NOPE!' Laito heavily disagreed with the situation, as he had at that point a clear image on where things were going with that.
He still decided to not use his prepared spell for now. Instead opting for some traditional Name Shaping:
"Kveykva!" He commanded and as Laito hoped for: the World obeyed.
Normally it wouldn't. Laito was still basically a mere mortal, even with the help of mana it wouldn't change a thing, if it wasn't woven into a proper Spell. But Laito did what he wasn't supposed to. He directly ingested large amounts of Mana, which now was seeping through his body even into his soul. Such overdose was a death sentence, which was rapidly made clearer with each second, confirmed by a warning from Laito's ROB.
On reincarnator's boy command streaks of lightning started to randomly discharge from his body.
It hit the first closest target to Laito, which was the bat holding him.
Laito wasn't Kaminari Denki and also, this was magic, so he was not hit back by his own lightning. Because magic.
But the surprised bat still dropped him.
With that: gravity claimed the glowing boy, rapidly pulling him towards the unseen bottom of the pit.
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[3,5 years left until MHA plot beginning]
[Chapter End] The story is not over yet
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